Villiaumite is a rare mineral in the Saint-Amable sill. Mostly it occurs as cavity fillings, anhedral grains, or, at best, crude, etched/leached, crystals with an occasional face here and there. This small specimen features the best crystal that I have ever seen from here. It isn't perfect, but it is in pretty good shape and is even lustrous. In addition, there is an unidentified “mineral” – probably a mixture/PSM. ( have provided an EDS scan – it could not be matched very well to any known mineral. (There is no thorium titano-silicate, never mind the other stuff.)
According to the Min Rec special issue on this quarry (March/April 1998), villiaumite was first found here ca 1994. This specimen was found in November 1999, but I only noticed this particular crystal recently. As in the 1994-6 find, associated minerals include sérandite, eudialyte, zakharovite, aegirine and natrolite, but there is no varennesite, makatite, or vuonnemite. Instead, there was (locally) abundant nenadkevichite, yofortierite and/or tuperssuatsiaite (none of these on this specimen) and a couple of unidentified minerals (including the yellowish stuff shown in the photo). For Demix-Varennes, this was a very rich find of villiaumite.
The first pair of photos (FOV 3.15 x 2.3 mm) shows both the villiaumite cube (1 mm) and the unidentified (pale beige) stuff. The cube appears to be completely without etching. (The dark zig-zag on the most lustrous face is actually a reflection even though it looks like a shadow in the photo). I don't think that any of the faces are cleavages.
The second pair of photos (FOV 3.5 x 2.4 mm) is another view of the same cube and the UK. Some of the smaller, more translucent, villiaumite crystals nearby have some “natural” (i.e. un-etched) surfaces. One of them might be another (partial) cube, but I don’t think that most of them are actually euhedral crystals.
Single item shipping weight is 3.0 oz (85 g). For shipments outside the USA, up to a total weight < 8 oz (225g), this can be combined with items from this or other auctions for the same postage.
Within the USA, postage for total weights up to 13 oz, ranges from $4.25 to $6.50 (including packing etc) regardless of destination. Above 13 oz, I will use Priority Mail ($7.25 - $9.20 including packing – varies by destination).
